Transcription
He's my district superintendent, and he is very qualified and capable of doing that. But what he is best at is preaching the word of God, and I love he and his wife very much. And Louisiana is blessed to have the quality leadership that we have in the district of [Music] Louisiana. And if you don't mind, I would like for you to give God the glory and the praise with a hand clap of praise for Brother T.F. Tenny and his ministry as he comes to minister. Hallelujah to the Lamb! Oh, I'm glad I'm saved. I'm glad I repented of my sins. One day, hey, I went down in water in a name that's above every name. You still believe that? Thank God for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and thank you, Jesus, for because of the time. Let me publicly express my gratitude to Brothers Mangan, Manan, their families, this great church for opening not just their doors, but their hearts to this great flow of the Spirit. And we welcome you to the great Bayou State. God bless you! Jesus Christ has walked in this building, amidst the seven golden candlesticks, His church, and He has spoken through that church. And I want to hear what the Spirit has to say. Turn with us to the seventh chapter of Judges. And while you're turning, let me call your attention to a table out there where you will find some small placards that give the events of the Louisiana District this year. We have a great Men's Retreat on September 8th through 10th. We had over a thousand men here last year. Laymen, preachers, great time. Our Women's Conference is April 21st-23rd. Last year, they had nearly 9,000 women here for our great Women's Conference. There's information on the table that's right across from where Sister Manan's display is. And if you gentlemen want to take, make your wife a gift, here are all the messages from this year's Women's Conference, and it's on that same table. So go by there and, um, visit that.
I, I don't know what you came asking God to do. You may have said, "Lord, just blow me into a new dimension." But really, God does not blow us so much as He grows us. You won't be blown, but you'll be grown. Now, He may set off a little seed explosion and plant some trees, but really, the process is, is, is growth. And I pray that all of us will grow as a result of what we've heard.
I spoke to the Lord several months ago about my ministry in a little different dimension. When I was about 30 years old, I wanted to build a great church. And by great, it was in the category, unfortunately, that our brother Shoemake was speaking of this morning: big church, big things. When I came to be 40, I decided I wanted to be a great preacher, eloquent, studious. You know, there's nothing wrong with sanctified ambition, as long as it's sanctified. But when I turned 50, I decided that the most important thing in life for me was to know [Music] Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah. And you know, uh, it finally dawned on me, if I know Jesus, a lot of those other things come tandem in His will. That's right. And I, I decided that rather than be a preacher, I wanted to be a minister. Praise God, minister. So maybe what I have to say will not be homolytically astute or, or hermeneutically platti. And some of you have heard some of these thoughts before. But Paul said in Philippians 3 and 1, "It doesn't bother me to repeat this piece of advice." Hallelujah. So evidently, Paul, and I tell you what, and in 3 and 1, he said, "Finally." And he said more after he said "Finally" than he had said before. That encourages me. I tell folks that sometimes I teach, and sometimes I preach. They said, "What's the difference?" I said, "Well, when you teach, you tell. And when you preach, you yell." That's about the only difference I can tell. Somebody says, "I'm going to teach," and they go into a little ditty. And then they say they're going to preach, and they get up two decibels higher and say the same thing. Oh, I tell you, it's all right to laugh. This has been heavy. Yeah.
Welcome, welcome, Brother Chambers. Welcome. I look down at you this morning, and Sister Chambers, and I don't know why I thought of this, but I thought, "What comes to your mind when you look at Brother and Sister Chambers?" And you would think, "Well, General Superintendent, General Secretary." But you know what hit me? Integrity. Exactly. After knowing him for nearly 40 years. Integrity. Christian integrity. I'm glad you're here. Yes, sir.
Seventh chapter, the Book of Judges. From Judges chapter 7, I will begin reading at verse 7. And the Lord said unto Gideon, "By the 300 men that lapped will I save you and deliver the Midianites into thine hand. And let all the other people go every man unto his place." So the people took victuals in their hand and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, and retained those 300 men. And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, "Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it." Now, not a thing had been done, but God said, "I have delivered it." I will, but I've already done it. Cradled in the mind of God, there was a deliverance. He was only looking for a man through whom He could express what was already done. "But if thou fear to go down, then go." "Go thy with Purah thy servant down into the host, and thou shalt hear what they say, and afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host." They went down with Purah, a servant, to the outside of the armed men that were in the host. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the East lay along the valley like grasshoppers for multitude. Their camels were without number, as the sand of the seaside for multitude. And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow and said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and it came unto a tent and smote it, and it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along." And his fellows answered and said, "This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, the man of Israel. For unto his hand hath God delivered Midian and all his host." And the book said, "And the man dreamed a dream, and he told it."
My subject: A nightmare in the enemy's camp. A nightmare in the enemy's camp. It is time for the church to understand that we are positioned to turn hell into pandemonium. That's right. And to give the devil insomnia. That's right. For He said, "I have already done it. Go and express what's already been done." "If God said it, that settles it." "Upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail." Hallelujah. Father, bless Your Word to the glory of the Lamb. I take dominion over every spirit that would oppose the work of the Holy Ghost. Every human spirit is bound. Oh God, every demonic spirit is bound, that we might know what God is speaking to us today. In the name of the Lord Jesus, and everybody said, "Amen." You may be seated.
I think it's vitally important for us to understand that God does have, in His divine ingenuity, destiny for the church. And understanding that destiny, and knowing that as far as the church is concerned, not individually, but collectively, the church, He has predestined the church to victory. Hebrews chapter 1, in M's Translation, said, "Jesus Christ is the predestined Lord of the universe." It's already settled who is going to ultimately sit upon the throne of eternity. And it's already settled that someone is going to be with Him that's called and chosen and faithful. You see, Jesus Christ came to give Satan the [Applause] devil. And the church, as His body, is an expression of His final victory and power on Earth. The church was chosen to cause chaos in the camp of the enemy. You see, we've had enough demonstrations in our world. They're looking for a gospel demonstration. And I haven't come to give you good advice. I've come to give you good news. He that's in you is greater than he that's in the world. And they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And while we are worrying and worrying, and while we are giving ourselves because of our own concerns sleepless nights, it's time for the church to understand that you are equipped to cause nightmares in the enemy's camp. And it's not by your massive numbers. God has never had anything but a remnant. He's never had a full bolt of cloth. He's always had to cut victory out of a remnant. But God has always chosen that remnant to shake the gates of hell off of their hinges.
Gideon got the message. Gideon, you're God's man now. He was hiding next to a dry wine press where there was supposed to be vats full of wine, eking out a few handfuls of grain where there were supposed to be lush fields. And he gets some divine revelation. "It ain't supposed to be like this." And the Lord comes by via an angel and says, "Oh, you mighty man of valor." And in essence, he said, "You must see something in me I don't see in myself." Because at that point, he had not been a man of valor. But God called forth out of him destiny. And God has not brought you here by accident. There are no accidents with God. You are a mighty man of valor. And God wants to call out of us, because of the times, our potential, and do through us what's already cradled in His mind to do. All He's waiting for is a vehicle of expression. And you know the story. We're not going to go into the intricacies of it. He blew the trumpet. 32,000 showed up. Because of the times, to shout. Finally, God said, and there's always a time when God says, "It's too many." "Tell the fearful to go back." You know, sometimes it takes more faith to stay than it does to go. Some of you come here praying, "God, should I stay where I am, or should I leave?" The greatest ability in the world is stick- [Applause] ability. Finally, there were 10,000 left. And God says, "That's still too many." What now? Can you imagine the man's confusion? He's called something that he doesn't think he is, a mighty man of valor. He gets 32,000. While he's trying to figure out how to whip 100,000 Midianites with 32,000, God cuts him down to 10,000. And then God says, "That's too many." You're talking about frustration. You see, it's not that God doesn't give us maps, but He doesn't give us all the maps in our hand at the same time for the journey. And we want the whole atlas. But all He says is, "As thy day is, so shall thy strength be."
So the Lord says, "Take them to the water." And he took them to the water. And you know the story. 300 men who got down and cupped their hands and brought it up. Two things that that meant: they had clean, empty hands. Yeah. That's it. And God said, "With this small camaraderie of 300, who are clean and empty, I'll move. I'll use. I'll, I'll bring defeat." Because they have come for a cleansing, and they have laid aside all their carnal weapons. Because the weapons of our. You see, they had to lay their weapons aside in order to reach down in that water. And some have said, "Well, that's the reason the others were, were, were disqualified." I don't know that. I think God was saying, "I'm not going to deliver you by these carnal weapons anyhow." And we sit and we figure and we think and we program. Let me tell you something: God is not committed to talent. God is committed to character. And sometimes we want the glory of God, and we don't understand what it is. Moses said, "Show me Your glory." God said, "I'll let My goodness pass before you." You're interested in glory. I'm interested in goodness. You're interested in a big display. I'm interested in character. Moses, when I work character in you, I'm going to show you My glory. But God is committed to character, not talent. Integrity and honesty. Concern. I, I somehow our mentality must be changed. You see, God has poured the church into an attack formation and into an offensive mold. But I don't understand it, Brother Tenny. My challenge is not to understand Him, but to obey Him. Gideon did not understand how God saw something in him he didn't see himself. Gideon didn't understand how 32,000 were going to do it. Gideon didn't understand how 10,000 were going to do it. Gideon certainly didn't understand how 300 were going to do it. But finally, he came to this realization: "Well, it's not by power, nor by might, anyhow, but if anything's ever done, it's by My Spirit, say the Lord." Lord, oh Church of the Living God, rise to your potential. Rise to the challenge of the hour. God has tailor-made Gideon 300 because of the times. Leave here with an appreciating consensus of yourself. Leave here recognizing that God sees something in you, and whether you see it or not is immaterial. Leave here understanding that though you may feel your hands are empty, if you've got clean, empty hands, you can be a part of the 300 that's going to cause a nightmare in the camp of the enemy. We've got to move from a defensive to an offensive concept, a militant army with banners. You know, I understand we're on a pilgrimage, and what started out as a pilgrimage can degenerate into a rat race, and it looks like the rats are winning. You know, "Poor little us," Brother Tenny. Hey, read in the 51st chapter of Isaiah, verse 23: "But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee." Go ahead. "Which have said to thy soul, Bow down, bow down, that we may go over." "And thou hast laid thy body." And he said, "You know what you've done? You've done what? Laid, laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over." "And as the street to them that went over." He said, "You have laid down and let your enemies run over you. You've just laid there and become a smooth highway and let life be squeezed out of you. You have let the devil run over you." That's what he said. "You have laid down and let the devil make a road out of you." And there's not one bump of Jesus' name in the road. No, not one place where the Holy Ghost has rained until there's been a pothole and he'd knock his tires out around when he hit you. You've made a smooth place and let every thought of the enemy run through you. You know what Esau's trouble was? The Bible said that he was profane. And the word profane means thorough. He was open to any thought. Don't let the devil cause you to lay down and run over you. I'm here to tell you, rise up, oh Army of God! The devil has run over the church long enough. I'm here to tell you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Forever, forever, forever. He still heals the sick. He still raises the dead. He still casts out demons. I'm tired of laying down and letting the devil run over us. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! By the grace of God, I refuse to do it anymore. Rise up, oh Church of God! You've been brought to the kingdom for such a time as [Applause] this. Yeah.
He's made a street out of us. And the more he runs over us, the boggier it gets. So Gideon said, "I can't understand it." God said, "I have given you victory." But he said, "Okay, I see you don't believe it. Take a witness. Take a witness and go down to the enemy's camp." And there are the Midianites dreaming of victory the next day. "We're going to run over those Israelites. We're going to eat them up. We're going to make prey out of them." They're afraid. They've been down-gardened. Their little few by their wine press, talking about what happened 40 years ago and how lush the harvest was back in old Brother C.P. Kilgore's day, and how a hundred got the Holy Ghost, and how he, in his lifetime, built how many churches? 15 churches. And, and they're, they're, they're talking about that, but they're not going to wake up to their potential. They're satisfied with what they've got. Satisfaction is stagnation, my friend. David said, "I'll be satisfied when I awaken His likeness, and not before." Yeah. While the devil was dreaming of victory, God sent His emissary down to infiltrate the camp of the enemy. And they slipped up to one of the tents in the middle of the night. And suddenly, one of the Midianites woke up and woke the other one up. Said, "Wake up, brother." When hell wakes up, wake up! "What's the matter?" "I just had a dream." He called it a dream, but it was a nightmare. He said, "What happened?" He said, "We were all in our tents, and he said, all of a sudden, I saw an old barley cake." Now, look, barley was the feed that they gave to livestock, and only the most poverty-stricken ate barley. The rest ate fine wheat. Only the poorest. So God said, "I'm going to even let their nightmare show you how big, big things I can do with small things, and how I can bring wealth out of poverty. I'm not even going to use a wheat cake. I'm going to use a barley cake." Now, listen. I'm showing you what I can do with a little that's touched and anointed of the Almighty. And he, he, he listened and he pushed his, his ear, and he said, "I saw a barley cake, and it came down the side of the mountain, and it hit these tents, and it knocked them thing." And "I don't understand it." And the other fell said, "My God, I know what it is." "What is it?" "That's Gideon. That's his army. That's his God. They're going to tear us up." You know what I think? I think right now there's a nightmare in hell because of the times. Because of the times. Because of the time. There's a nightmare in hell because of the times. There's a nightmare in hell. Wake up, oh Church of God! The wrong crowd is worrying. The wrong crowd's worrying. Can y'all not hear me? They can't hear me on this platform. So fix it. Oh, Hallelujah! They can't hear out there. All right. Somebody suggested, "Turn it up." Let's try that. But what I'm simply saying is this, that I honestly believe that God dropped nightmares in that enemy. And we are not ignorant of his devices. God is letting us know today, amen, what's going on in the camp of the enemy. The Midianites were dreaming of conquest and victory, but that was before the nightmare. It's dangerous, and hear me, it's dangerous to be curious about Satan. I, I want to be honest with you. This has been an honest pulpit. It's dangerous when you recognize Satan and start gleaning information about him. His host attacked you in proportion to your knowledge of his secrets. And you either devote yourself to a life of battle and victory, or you stay behind the lines. But once you start seeking knowledge of the strategy of the enemy, you open yourself up. But my friend, I still got good news. He that's in you is still greater. And where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. But you've got to have that concept that the Christ that lives in me has already defeated Satan. He is a defeated and a vanquished foe. You've got to see yourself as a threat to the devil. And that's not an ego trip, because I learned a long time ago that your ego can write a check your consecration can't catch. And I'm not bragging on anything I can do. I'm talking about what Jesus can do. I'm talking about this Christ in His power. But you've got to have a concept. We've got a pygmy theology about the church. The church, the church is the most powerful institution on Earth, not because of its great numbers, but because of its power. The smallest unit in the universe is an atom. But God teaches us that the smallest thing is the most powerful thing. And I'm not saying the church cannot be great numerically. It should be, and it will be. But it's nothing but the Lord of the Lord, to be saved by many or by few. You've got to see yourself as a threat. Are you afraid to get up in the morning, or is the devil afraid for you to get up in the morning? You've got to see that, hey, hell starts shaking every time my feet hit the floor in the morning because they've had nightmares all night about what I'm going to do. You know, I can almost hear the devil. Somebody go, "See if you can't keep Gerald Mangan in bed another hour. Make his back hurt. I don't want to go to bed. Don't let the phone ring. Don't let Vesta disturb him. Why? Just give me one more hour." Because when he gets up, may hell help us all. Heaven's going to break loose. You've got to see yourself as a threat to the devil. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! It's time for us to give nightmares in the camp of the enemy. Shut out.
But you say, "Brother Tenny, he don't bother me like that." No, he never kicks a dead horse. Why should he bother you if you're not bothering him? The only time the devil's going to bother you is when you bother him. Listen, 1987 has been torment for a lot of God's people. I preached to you last year it was going to be torment because it was in the last two-year period before the 40th year period that begins this year on May the 15th. I predict this is going to be the beginning of the greatest revival. Hallelujah. Sit down. Hallelujah. You've got to have a concept of that. Leaving here, and I'm telling you, if you've got that concept, and the devil knows you've got that concept, you'll fight him all the way [Applause] home.
Brother Tenny, I've been such a failure in the past. My past, my past. Don't get hung up on your past. And anytime the devil reminds you of your past, you remind him of his future. Oh, yeah. Devil, you want to talk about my past? Okay, I want to talk about your future. I see a bottomless pit. Give him a nightmare. Give him a nightmare. Put him to bed, rolling and tossing. My future, the lake of fire, chained forever. May be seated. I'm telling you, every circumstance in life can minister to the man that has faith. I don't care what it is. According to Romans 8:28, every circumstance in life becomes a ministry to you. There's no waste in God's economy. I promise you. I could give you experience after experience of my personal encounters. Some of it would sound so strange. All right. When I was Foreign Missions Director, I, I came to understand demonology in a way I'd never understood. How that different demons rule over different areas. How that there are elite, sophisticated demons, as we have here in America, and there are gutter demons, as we have in Asia. Over 365 women, they know of, were burned to death in India because of the bride price last year. Demonology. I've been to one of the temples in India where they still have blood sacrifice. Went to the place where the animals were slaughtered to placate the goddess Kali. They stand in her temple, no place to sit, because it's standing room only, all the way to her idol, 24 hours a day, standing room only, shouting and screaming to that one-eyed monster, Kali. I've had those demons follow me home. Took me a little while. Sister Tenny, sitting here, my children. I've awakened in the middle of the night to hear my children simultaneously scream. I've seen black globes come in my door to haunt me. But it was in those personal encounters with Satan, satanic powers, that I learned the authority. I was only one against one-third of the fallen angels. And Michael, who was one of the top three. God had three: Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer. Gabriel was the messenger angel. Michael, the warrior angel. And Lucifer, the light angel. His name means light-bearer. He was in charge of God's lighting system, apparently. Tremendous forces. But to be able to go through my home in the middle of the night, I'd get up, my wife would wake up, I said, "Uh oh, they're here again." Go through my home and plead the blood and order them to vacate the premises and to feel the release. A demon woman, right out of the bush country of South Africa, tormented out of her mind, and had been for years. They literally drugged her, five men holding her, to Brother Freeman. And he looked at her, and those that brought her, and said, "Does she speak English?" They said, "No." "Does she speak Banto?" "No." "Knew no language." He knew she was right out of the bush country. And suddenly, one arm broke loose from her, and she pointed it right in his face and in perfect English said, "Eel Freeman, I know you, and I'm not afraid of you." Well, Brother Freeman looked back and said, "I know you know me, and I know you're not afraid of me, but you're afraid of a name I've got. In the name of Jesus, come out of it!" Hey, I know a name, Brother Stone King. I know a name. I know a name. I know a name. I know a name. I know a name. I know a [Music] name.
Equipped to give hell nightmares. Well, get in, in His little victorious army. All they had was a picture, a light, and a trumpet. And that is the ability to hold light, the willingness to be broken, and the yield to give praise. If you can hold light, and you're willing to be broken, and you can still sound the trumpet of praise after you're broken, that's all it takes. Because when the picture was broken, the light that was in it got the glory. You know, we, the law of first reference is an interesting law in the Bible. You find where something's first is taught to get a scriptural principle throughout the teachings of the book. We talk about God opening the windows of heaven. God opening the windows of heaven. But Genesis 7 and 11 is the first place of the windows of heaven being mentioned. And he said, "The fountains of the deep were opened." And then the windows of heaven were opened. The windows of heaven are not open till the fountains of the deep are broken. And there's got to be a breaking of the fountain ground before that. When we, we say, "God, open the windows, open the windows of heaven." And God said, "I'm waiting for the fountains of the deep to [Applause] break." So Gideon broke up hell. He heard their nightmare. I'm not telling you to go devil hunting. I worry about people that's always hunting devils. I find, I, I run into more accidentally. No, don't, don't go looking for him. But you're right, sister. Don't run from them if they challenge you. See, Michael taught us that in the book of Jude. He dared not bring a railing accusation against Satan, but he just said, "The Lord rebuke you." You challenged me, I'm going to handle you. And he will challenge you. But I'm telling you, Gideon had heard the nightmare, and he saw that God had decreed that it was already done. That's not the only time that happened. And I hasten, I've got to get through here. You remember the story of 2 Kings 6:7? The old lepers. The city of Samaria was under siege. You know what a siege is? That's when the enemy waits you out, pressure, depression. And Brother Ad Spears has a message on that this morning that is the most dynamic I've ever heard. And me and the Lord asked him to preach it here today. A siege is not when they come and and and attack you, but they try to starve you out, and then you just fall into their hands. They dry up the resources until the people starve. They cut off the source of supply. And the source of God's people's supply was cut off. And they were, they were holed up there. They had, were behind their walls. They had a fortress mentality. And cannibalism broke out. They were eating their children. And the first thing to die in a spirit of no revival is our [Music] children. The first thing we lose under siege is our children. You let a church go through a period of five or 10 years without revival, and the first thing you'll lose is your own [Applause] children. And then they got to eating donkey's head. A donkey's head sold for 80 pieces of silver, and, and, and a couple of pints of dove's dung sold for five pieces of silver. What happens when there's no revival? You lose your sense of value. When you're under siege, things that weren't important become important, and things that were important are not important. See, when you're under siege, the Bible said, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of the stronghold." You know where the devil's stronghold is? In your mind. He gets in that mind, and he plays tricks on you, and he keeps you under condemnation and guilt, and, and always in introspection, and, and never thinking out, and always myopic, and tunnel vision, and what I can't do, and poor little me, and who I am. I'm here to tell you that you are equipped to cause a nightmare in the camp of the enemy. The wrong crew is worrying. Dove's dung and a donkey's head. No wonder they were so stubborn, and their doctrine stunk. You know what their doctrine was? Because their leaders had it. The first lieutenant of the king was saying, "There'll be no revival here." And when the first lieutenants of the king pick up that spirit, then the people of God are in trouble. You see, Brother Michael, and I don't want this sermon to be rated X, but dove's dung is not where the dove is, it's where the dove has [Applause] been. And the dove is a type of the Holy Ghost. You can't live on past moves of the Holy Ghost. We've got to have something today. I've got to leave, because of the times, with new direction, with a fresh touch, with a fresh anointing. I appreciate what my God has done in the past, and for past generations, but I refuse to get locked into a siege mentality. You know, "All we can do is hold our own till Jesus comes," and there's only going to be four walls and 40 people, and we're almost going to be beat down. The Rapture is not a rescue mission for a trapped church. It's a glorious coronation day for a victorious bride. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! An army with banners. Sit down.
But Brother Tenny, there's never been times like these. It may help you to know, in times like these, that there's always been times like these. Right? I've been preaching nearly 40 years, and 40 years ago, they were telling me that the church is going to the hogs and dogs. We're going to lose our doctrine. We're going to lose our standard. We just better barely hold on because Jesus is only going to be just another day or two, and He's a-coming. And, and, and, you know, you don't have to build very good churches, and that kind of a siege mentality. I don't see that kind of a church. I see a victorious, triumphant church. Yeah, we got our problems. Some of us have sweat out of prayer on our faces with the battle hymn of the Republic on the inside, but be able to contain that light, be broken. Don't ever lose your praise. Isaiah 54 and 1 said, "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear. Break forth into singing and shout, thou that didst not travail." You got a barren place in your life? You got a barren church? Go to worship Him. He didn't say sing when everything is right. He said sing when it's barren. Hallelujah! When you're on the bottom, sing. Jeffrey, Hallelujah! When all the city's against you, and the zoning ordinances against you, and they're dragging you to court, sing. Jeffrey, Hallelujah! When the saints leave you, and a former pastor comes in and tries to split your church, sing. Jeffrey, Hallelujah! Sing! And you did sing. Well, you did sing. You did sing. You did sing. Sing, O barren. Worship. Worship. Worship. Hey, let me tell you something. Sit down. You remember when Paul and Silas got in jail? Remember that? Do you know how they got in jail? Before Paul, you see, Paul tried, tried to go East three times. He bumped his head on the Holy Spirit trying to go East. And finally, he had a great vision. Great vision from God. No more direct juice than a vision. And then the elders came and said, "Seems good to us." And the Holy Ghost. Well, that's confirmation. There's somebody over there. And he just expected when my feet hit the ground of Philippi, son, heaven's going to open up. He couldn't find that man. Never could find. Finally, he looked and looked and looked, and down by the river, he found a few little women. What would we have done in some of our churches? How many of our churches have started with a little band of praying women? And you know where they ended up? The men said, "Right after His death, led by none other than the Apostle Peter, we're going fishing." The women said, "We're going to anoint His [Applause] body." It's a difference in a fishing spirit and an anointing spirit. You know where they ended up doing the will of God? Brother David Wheeler, doing the will of God, they ended up in the clinker and the slammer, beaten in stocks. And about that time, I can hear Paul, Silas, "Yeah, somebody's here." Silas said, "Yeah, he just came by me." "What did he tell you, Silas?" "He said, 'That's what I get for listening to you and following you.' Said, 'I figured he told me that I had a good tent and awning shop in Jerusalem, and I gave it up to get in this mess.' He told me that. I told all my peers that it was the will of God to come here, and I'm lower than I've ever been in my life. But I've already said it's the will of God, and not peer pressure on me." Oh, the pressure. "What we going to do, Paul?" "I tell you what we going to do. It's midnight, and I'm a-hurting, but we fixing to worship. We fixing to wake hell up. No need for us to stay awake all night. If I can't sleep, the devil's not going to sleep. I'm fixing to give him a nightmare." Sit down. You know what the Bible said? The Bible said that Paul's speech was contemptible. If his speech was contemptible, what do you think his singing voice was? Oh, we're locked into talents. You know, you got to have talent. It doesn't take talent to shake the gates of hell. It takes a relationship with Jesus Christ. I didn't hear Paul. Paul said, "What you going to sing?" Silas said, "I'll sing alto." Paul said, "I'll sing tenor." You know, history says that he had a high, squeaky voice. That's why they said his voice was contemptible. And I can hear Paul, "There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood." And old Silas joins in. And God looks down and He listens. He said, "Hey, I like that duet. I believe I'll go down and make it a trio." Hallelujah! "Sh..." And Paul was singing tenor, and Silas was singing alto, and God said, "I'm going to sing bass." And God got so low till the whole place went to rockin'. Hallelujah! And hell woke up to a nightmare. Sing, O barren. Sing, O barren. Sing, O barren. Sing, O barren. Don't you leave Him but with anything but a song of [Applause] praise. You can bring God into your [Applause] circumstance by your worship, your relationship.
Well, those four lepers at that gate. I got to hasten on. You know, they had a risky mentality. And it takes risky mentality. They said, "If we sit here, we die. We go in the city, we die. If we go to the Syrian camp, we may die." I was criticized for preaching this a few weeks back, so I'm fixing to preach it again. You know how you spell faith? R-I-S-K. There is a divine risk factor. You got to be willing to step out. Faith, as the old adage says, is reaching up and taking hold of nothing and holding on till it becomes something. Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going. He literally marched off the map. You tell them again. I tell you where I preached it, but I'm not. You spell faith. Send them this tape. R-I-S-K. But Brother Tenny, "It don't look right. It don't taste right. It don't smell right. It don't feel right." Blah, blah, blah. I heard in this pulpit, Charles Mahaney say that your five senses are good evangelists for [Applause] [Music] unbelief. Suddenly, into that camp. Prophet of God said, "About this time tomorrow, a measure of wheat going to be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord." That's what it said. You know what that was? That was the right price. That's what it ought to be. He said, "I'm going to make things right. I'm going to get the price right. Everything's going to level out." Doesn't look like it today, but you wait. God opened the windows of heaven. Uh oh. There's that word again. I could spend a lot of time on it. Don't you talk about God opening the windows of heaven if you hadn't broken up the fountains of the deep, because what will happen will run over you. And in the camp of the enemy, the Bible said it was twilight. It was night. They were going to bed, sweet dreams of conquest tomorrow. And four old lepers, four risky, sick, yeah, lepers going toward the camp of the enemy. Devil's so mean. You know, Brother Kilo will remember this. We were in General Board meeting. Brother Leo Upton, who just died, his daughter called just a few days before he died and said, "Dad asked me to call, tell y'all he needed some prayer cover. He was very near death." Brother Upton, when I was Foreign Missions Director, and afterwards, he was greatly used of God overseas, especially in casting out demons. And the last few days before his death, he called his daughter in the room, and he said, "All of the demons that I cast out in Asia, they're the meanest ones, have come to haunt me and fight me all night long. All night long." He said, "I fought with them." Said, "Call my brethren and tell them that I need some help." Mean, low down. But I want you to know, he died in victory. They didn't get him. Man, they went into the camp. You know what that enemy? They were sound asleep. All of a sudden, "Who, I hear something." "What is it?" "I hear chariots." "Another said, 'I hear horses.'" And they came running out. And their mind was telling out. You know, the devil can play tricks on our mind, and we worry about that. But did you know we've got authority to play tricks on the devil's mind? There wasn't no horses. There wasn't no chariots coming. They hadn't hired the Egyptians. But God put that in their mind, and they went into pandemonium. I'm a-telling you, you've got authority to bring nightmares into the camp of the enemy. You can confuse their mind. You can confuse their mind. Four old lepers. That's all it was. They came into that camp, found everybody gone. Read the story. I don't have time. They ate, they put clothes on, and then, you know what they did after eating and drinking? They went to hide everything they found. Now, the Bible tells us what they hid. Notice this: they had gold, silver, and raiment. Now, gold was the highest gift you could give. Silver is a type of redemption. We're not redeemed by corruptible things such as silver and gold. Raiment is the robe of righteousness. What they were hiding were the gifts, the plan of redemption, and their message of righteousness. You know what a man told me a few weeks back? Well, a few months back now. He said, "Brother Tenny, he's not UPC." He said, "The United Pentecostal Church is the best kept secret in the religious world." We've got to hide and have it. Right. I'm afraid sometimes we've been so afraid of staying away from the world till we've kept the world away from us. Right. I just took your place, Brother Shoemaker. What church should have the gifts of the Spirit on display to the glory of the Lamb? What church should have the beautiful silver of redemption on display? Which church should be out there where they can see our message of righteousness and holiness? But we got to hide and have it. That's right. Bless God, we're on the corner here, and if they want to get saved, they know where we live. Finally, they woke up and said, "Back among God's people, where there's supposed to be heaven, there's hell." We've got to take a message back to them. We got to get back to the gate. Now, there was hell going on in that city. Jesus said this, Brother Stone King, preach, "The gates of hell shall not prevail." That doesn't mean hell's going to try to knock the church's gates down. That means the church can knock the gates of hell. Now, they went back and they stood at the gate. Hello. And you're not going to like this, but they lived in another dispensation. I don't know anything about their sanctity. They were outcasting lepers, and they had been drinking wine, and they had been stuffing and gorging. And can you see them with an old crown, Assyrian crown, and robes that were 10 times too big for them? Hey, up there, boy! They sure are carried away. I tell you what we need today: some God-intoxicated men. They may look like they're misfits. And every now and then, God sends one of these spiritual misfits knocking on the door of the church. Hey, and they look down and say, "He don't fit my mold. He don't, he don't act just like I do." Hey, keep the gates closed, fellas. And they went and told the king, said, "There's four old drunk lepers at the gate, and you ought to see what they got on." And they say, "There's plenty. There's plenty of food." And the king said, "Wait a minute. It's a trick. Oh, keep that gate closed. It's a trick. Don't let that get in here. It's a trick." A siege mentality makes opportunities look like a trick. [Music] I'm way past you now. You know that man's ministry doesn't, you know, he don't fit my cookie cutter. It's not the way, you know, we had done it that way before. It's a trick. You know, the way he acts, the gifts of the Spirit, and all that prophesying, and, and, and telling somebody he thinks he knows what's wrong with him. And tell you what, I went through the latter rain in '48, and I did go through the latter rain, and I'll tell you what it did to us. It killed a lot of our faith. We got afraid of the gifts of the Spirit. Anybody that operated in them, we thought they were a little weird. And, and, and that siege mentality. You know, anybody's got a little different type of ministry, I'm not talking about some ministry that's off the scripture, but if a man's got a tremendous ministry from God, even if it is unique, he will subject himself. That's good. He will. You see, victory is built on relationships. Power is built on relationships. These men were in relationship to one another. Now, now get this. The Tower of Babel. The Bible said, "Now these men were out of the will of God." These Babel builders. But the Bible said, "Nothing shall be restrained that they want to do." What? Because they had a plan, they communicated with one another, and they had unity. And you know how God defeated them? He broke one leg of that relationship, communication. And the devil said, "Hey, that's a good idea. If I can break relationships and unity, then it restrains people. They can't do." Now, if men out of the will of God could not be restrained, if they had those three things going for them, what about men who are in the will of God that communicate, have unity, have relationship? Power comes out of relationship. The power of God moves through relationships. Yeah. But you know what the, the prodigal said? I've heard preachers preach prodigal. Said, "I'm going back to my father's house." He didn't say that. He said, "I'm going back to my father, because his house won't have me, but he will." [Applause] [Music] Relationship. Forgiveness is a relationship. I was born, raised on a farm. Took my shoes off at
The first frost didn't put them on till Mama made me. When I went back to school, had 200 head of milk cows, five pawns, 600 acres to ram all summer. Everything that goes with it, barefooted. C-locked, but if my foot in all that mud, which happened many times, stuck, got stuck, got cut, which happened many times. You know what had happened? "Oh, my hand!" "Yes, sir, you dirty foot, that's good enough for you. You just stay down there in that mud. I'm not going to touch you and contaminate my clean hands with that filth." Paul said, "Can the hand say to the foot, but you let a foot get hurt and what do we say? Well, I knew that was going to happen." But if you're really in the body and that foot gets hurt, I don't care how dirty it is. Let me help you, foot. Come here. Let me pull you closer. Not shove you away. Let me pull you.
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Closer. Oh, you know the rest of the story. Victory came. Victory came. Victory came. I close with these final remarks. There's been a lot said about angels. Daniel gives us some unique insights into angels. Daniel's dreams turned into nightmares of the devil's camp and cradle in some of your mind because of the times. Is a dream for a ministry? When I say a ministry, do you understand? I'm talking about an old-fashioned Pentecostal, clean, pure Acts 2:38. I'm not talking about what one fell said, and he wasn't talking about the other group. He said, "We got a lot of charismatic." He said, "They just cruise in and stay a while and cruise out." I'm not talking about any denomination, but I'm talking about John 3:5, Acts 2:38, Holiness, clean, pure, loving Jesus. You know, we have to declare ourselves in every message, let's you know somebody go over it with a fine-tooth comb. But we need, we've got a siege mentality. We don't understand the authority that God has given us. It has slipped away. We have lost the simplicity of our elders. You know, the simplicity of those are. It's criminal to complicate Jesus. Yes, it is. We talk a lot about some things our elders preached and did a lot of things we don't talk about they did because it might embarrass somebody. I've heard Brother Kilgor tell, he wouldn't mind this, when he went into a new place to preach, brand new, there was anybody else to pray in the altar, he'd say, "All you good Methodists and Baptists, come up here and help me pray with these people trying to find God." And those good Methodists and Baptists, they thought they were just ready for heaven. You know, and here's some poor sinners. You know what would happen to them when they get up close? He didn't say, "All you heathens, stay back. Don't you come close to this holy altar." You know what I came out of the era when we came to church? I'm about 40 years ago. Can y'all remember when we had the choir? And it wasn't no train choir. Let's come to the choir. And 3/4 of the congregation emptied out. And all the little kids, you know, and we'd all come bunch up on the platform. And some glad morning when this life is over, and everybody from all the kids, you know, and and and mamas with babies in their arms, and maybe some old sinner sitting out there. And Pastor say, "Jeb, get up there and sing with us." "Oh, I don't want no." "You get your guitar and get up here." "Oh, he going to." You know what happened when he got up close to the fire? I'm talking about old-time Pentecost. It wasn't an exclusive club. It was a warm home where everyone was invited to come close to the fire. And that didn't mean they were a member of the family. Family. That didn't mean they were a member of the family, but they could feel the warmth and the love and the concern and the compassion. But we've got our little club rules. And even in the club, we got a club, and the clubs got sub.
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Clubs. You know, God told Moses to take his shoes off, but he told Joshua to take his shoe off. I heard one man preach that Joshua had one leg because God just told him, "Take off one shoe." But you know, I belong to the first church of the two shoe. While I'm a father of Joshua, I belong to the first church of the one shoe. Know the two shoes are right? Know the one shoe is right. Bless God. We're going to split. You go your way and you believe in one shoe. I'm going my way. I'm going to believe in two. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told you last year. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost. Yeah, sister Mangan, let's get rid of our hang-ups. Let's not be intimidated. Take this Acts 2:38 message and go with it, and you'll give hell a nightmare. It works. It works. Everybody say it works. Say it again. It. Say it again. It works. Hey, devil, did you hear us? It works. Sit down. Paul said, "Some of you going to leave here and fight devils, and things going to get worse before they get better." Paul got in the middle of a storm, and he hadn't seen daylight, and hadn't eaten for days and days and days, and the ship was a-creaking. Finally, he said, "There stood by me this night an angel." Now get this. That angel did not stop the storm. That angel did not keep the ship from falling apart. There are angels that are known as standby angels. They don't do anything. They just come and stand by you and make you aware of a presence. All right, after the angel came, things got worse because the whole ship fell apart. But Paul said, "I'm comforted because regardless of what happened, God sent a standby angel." Jesus was in the garden, and things got worse after the garden. But the Bible said, "There came some angels and ministered to him." They were standby angels. They just stood by him. And I'm promising you that there are strengthening angels, standby angels that'll go with you. You may get in a storm. You may feel like the whole thing. But if you're aware of that presence, I know God sent me. I know I'm in the will of God. Daniel 10:1. "In the third year of Cyrus King of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel." I had a burden. God showed me something. Whose name was called Belto. "Everything's going to get wonderful, Daniel. Go on." And the thing was true, but the time appointed was long. Brother Shemak, thank you. That's it. The thing is true, but the time is long. Now, don't get frustrated when you leave here and what you've heard preached doesn't happen tomorrow. The thing is true, but Daniel said the time. You know, keep praying. Keep believing. Things going to get better. Did it? Daniel 10:12 and 13. "Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, yes, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard; and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael one of the chief princes came to help me." Skip down and read 20 and 21. I got to get out of here. "Then said he, Knowest thou now wherefore I am come unto thee? And I will return to fight okay to fight with the prince of Persia: but when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come." Prince of Grecia is going to come. That's enough. Sit down. You got to locate your prince wherever you're going. Just like where Daniel went, there's a prince. Why didn't it say "The Prince of Babylon"? He was living in the province of Babylon of Persia. Why did the Prince of Persia fight? I'll tell you why. Daniel had long ago bound the prince of Babylon. But the children of this world are wiser. When the prince of Babylon was bound, the Prince of Persia moved in. Covered. And he said, "Now I know when I go back what's going to happen." Michael's going to have the Prince of Persia cornered, but the prince of Grecia is going to come all the way from Greece. You see how in the hierarchy of hell, they cover for one another? When one gets in trouble, the other moves in. Do we do that? You have never heard of 50 little demons splitting off and starting a new hell. No, they'll cover for one another. You know, you hit one of my demon brothers, you've hit me. I'm coming. You know, what do we say? "Well, that's good enough for him. I knew he'd bit off more." I tried to tell that boy. I am preaching.
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It. And this you must understand. 19. The last few years, how many of you have said the last few years have been such horrible conflict? I want to give you a little insight into something that's a little Tenny theology. I never read this in any book, but you see the Tigris-Euphrates River flow flowed out of what was ancient Persia, and the first encounter with Satan came there. The oldest and wisest demon in the hierarchy of hell, and in my opinion, the strongest because he's been with him the longest, is the Prince of Persia because that's where it all started. I think he is the first lieutenant of Lucifer. And anytime Persia is stirred, you see their "sends of the sea, stars of the sky." All truth is paralleled. Persia today is Iran, and there's no more fear warlike people on Earth than the Iranians. Literally hundreds of thousands of their boys have committed suicide by running into the Iraqi lines. They are so fierce. The whole world fears them. The Prince of Persia is stirred on Earth and has become warlike and has her kingdom stirred. When that happens on Earth, the spiritual Prince becomes active. Yeah, and that is why we are getting more insight today. There are only five mentions of the devil in the Old Testament, multiple in the New. The reason is, in the New, the light came. We don't have to fear that. But one reason there's so much demonic oppression is the Prince of Persia has stood up and there's movement and the principalities of hell. But we are allowed by God to activate angels like Daniel did and bring them into the war zone of our life. The 103rd Psalm, there's a scripture that said, "The angels go at the command of Thy word." Now, I don't believe we just tell angels what all to do, but when you got a scriptural premise for it and praying the word of God, the angels go at the command of His word. And the Lord bids me to tell you that because the Prince of Persia has stood up in great power and the heavenlies are disturbed and the hierarchy of hell has been marshaled for the last day of salt, that God is sending special detachments of angelic beings and cherubim. And when you get home, there's going to be special angels. There may not be anything but a standby. I'm not telling you the battle is going to subside, but you are going to be aware of a presence. If it seems like your whole boat is falling apart, you are going to be aware of a presence. And you, with this concept and this mentality, are going to cause nightmares in the camp of the enemy.